"You didn't really think you could just leave without saying goodbye, did you?" Kent asked, smiling down at me.
He was wearing black slacks, a crisp white button up shirt and a red tie that matched my dress perfectly. In his hand he was holding a beautiful corsage with three red roses and little crystals woven through. He actually took my breath away, he was so handsome.
"I didn't think. . ." I wasn't sure what I was even going to say as I stared up at Kent, still shocked he had made it to me before I had to leave.
"Jackie told me what happened," Kent explained, letting go of one of my hands to wipe a tear from my cheek. He took a step away from me to admire my dress and let out a low whistle, "I'm glad you didn't make it to the dance, all of the girls would've been jealous and I would've had to fight off all the guys for sure,"
I could feel a blush creeping up my cheeks but the situation we were in kept me from enjoying his admiration.
"I'm so sorry," I whispered, trying to look away from Kent but he grabbed my cheek and made me keep eye contact.
"This isn't your fault, okay?" He looked hopeful and I couldn't tell if his attitude was more for my benefit or his right now, "We can make this work,"
Without a single pause Kent leaned down and pressed his lips gently against mine. For a few moments I couldn't even close my eyes, the shock from Kent kissing me, finally, had my momentarily paralyzed. Kent inched away from me, just barely so that our lips were still barely against each other.
"It's even better if you kiss me back, I promise,"
My cheeks burned with embarrassment while Kent chuckled and pressed his lips against mine again, this time not as gentle. He tasted like chocolate actually and his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me in closer.
For that moment and that moment only, I couldn't remember why I was upset.
I couldn't remember why I was crying and I couldn't feel the crisp air surrounding us.
All I could feel, at this moment, was Kent against me. His lips moving gently while his arms wrapped around me even tighter, almost like he was afraid I'd disappear at any moment. I never wanted this moment to end. I was finally kissing Kent, he was kissing me! My heart was pounding in my chest and in my ears and the butterflies in my stomach were having the time of their life.
All too soon Kent pulled away from our kiss, both of us out of breath and the cold air allowing the clouds to mingle between us. Again Kent wiped a tear away from my eye.
"I've wanted to do that for a while," He whispered, pecking my lips again quickly. I never wanted to stop kissing him.
"I've wanted you to do that for a while," I admitted, not able to hide my smile.
"You know you could've kissed me anytime, I wouldn't have complained," Kent smirked down at me but before we could kiss again Berny cleared his throat loudly.
I had completely forgotten about our school's security guard who had witnessed the whole thing.
"This is awkward now, I assume Mr. Perfect can help you carry your bags," Berny dropped my duffel bags and began walking away before either one of us answered. It was for the best.
"Is this really happening?" Kent wrapped his arms around my neck now and pulled me into another warm hug, resting his chin on the top of my head.
"I wish it wasn't," I almost didn't hear my own voice, it was so quite now. The sound of music was barely audible from the gym now.
"Then we'll make the most of it, dammit," Kent grabbed my hand and slipped the corsage over my wrist then fished his phone from his pocket, "Any song requests, my lady?"
Kent pulled up his YouTube app on his phone and began typing in a song. I didn't catch the name of is before Kent was shoving his phone into the front pocket of his button up shirt. He grabbed his sweatshirt from my hand and threw it on top of the duffel bags Berny had previously dropped.
Kent's left arms curved around my lower back and his right hand scooped up mine, pulling me back against him and beginning to sway the two of us to the soft music playing from his phone that we could barely hear even with the volume all the way up.
"I'm sorry this isn't the dance of your dreams, Sadie," Kent said, letting go of my hand and grabbing my other hip instead. My hands loosely clasped around the back of his neck and I had to crane my head back to look into his eyes.
"I couldn't ask for anything better," Kent smiled at me again before leaning down and kissing me again. I could kiss him all night and never grow tired of it.
"Mercedes!" The sound of my mom's booming voice forced me to jump away from Kent, a gesture that clearly hurt him from the look on his face, and turned towards my mother who was jumping from her still running car.
My mom, a 53 year old attorney who's opinions were always well expressed, stomped over to the two of us with the look of pure anger and disappointment clear on her face.
"So, is it true then?" She nearly screamed, her own face bright red to almost match my dress. My face was beginning to burn now too from the fact of my mother lecturing me in front of Kent. "Is it true you've been sleeping in a male dorm?
"Well, mom I-"
"She was staying in our dorm ma'am, but Sadie had her own room," Kent blurted out, cutting me off. Was he trying to make the situation better? Clearly he didn't know my mother. Her glare snapped to Kent and she quickly looked him up at down, already deciding how she felt about him, and crossed her arms.
"Whether she had her own room or not is not the point here," My mother yelled at the two of us, both of us looking down at our feet, "You never should have stayed here and you should have contacted me immediately,"
"Why? So I can go back to our perfect home with my perfect parents just to be miserable?" I snapped and my mother's mouth hung open. Sure mom and I never saw eye to eye, but I wasn't exactly the type of daughter to talk back to her either.
I could almost see the steam coming from her ears.
"Get your things and get in the car, now. You can kiss your phone and any privilege's you think you have goodbye, do you hear me?" My mom yanked one of the duffel bags from Kent's hands that he had politely picked up for me and began stomping back to the car.
What did I expect to be the outcome of talking back? I kicked myself inside, knowing that my mother was dead serious about taking my phone away. Now how would Kent and I ever get ahold of each other?
"I am so sorry Kent," I whispered, reaching for the other bag in Kent's hand but he pulled it away from me.
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Kent followed me to the back of my mom's car and tossed the remainder of my bags in, shutting the trunk for my mom and even opening her car door for her. Although my mom was out of control upset at the moment, I could tell she was impressed with Kent's manners. Even just a little bit.
"It was nice to meet you Mrs. Michaels, I'm sorry about all this trouble," Kent said in a respectful manner, giving my mom a shy smile and by some miracle she cracked a small, tight smile back at him.
"If it's alright, may I say goodbye to Sadie?"
Even I was shocked at Kent's behavior at this point, I guess I had only really seen Kent around his peers or coaches, never in front of someone he was trying to impress. He really knew how to get parents to like him, I'll give him that much.
"Alright, just a few minutes though, we have a long drive back tonight," My mom nodded from where she was still sitting in the drivers seat, glancing my way for a moment, "It was a pleasure to meet you, uh,"
"Kent," I muttered from where I was standing next to Kent and my mom pressed her lips together.
"Ah, yes, Kent. Pleasure," With that being said she reached out and closed her driver's door while Kent walked me to the other side of the car. We stood towards the back of the car so we had a little more privacy, although my mother could still see us through the rearview mirror. And you bet she was watching.
"I'll text you, okay?"
"She's taking my phone Kent, I don't know when I'll get it back," Kent bit his bottom lip and looked down at our feet. It's like I could feel the hope begin to leak from his body. Without a phone, without social media (which I wasn't allowed to have) how were we supposed to keep in touch?
"We can write to each other then, good old snail mail, you know? It could be really romantic actually and just until you get your phone back, right?" Kent reached down to lift up my chin and smile at me. Seeing him hopeful gave me a little bit of hope too. But long distance relationships never last.
"Promise?"
"Pinky promise," Kent hooked his pinky around mine and before either of us could say another word he kissed me one more time.
My lips tingled at the memory and I couldn't help but smile as we backed away from the school I had come to love and call home. Kent watched us leave, waving and blowing me kissed.
Even though I was leaving the school, I had hope that I'd be able to see Kent and all my friends again at well. Staring down at the beautiful corsage, the last thing I had from Kent, I knew without a doubt I'd see Kent again soon.
**UNKNOWN**
"Are you sure he's not going to find out?" She snapped at me while shakily holding out the phone.
"How is he going to find out? I'm not going to tell anyone, are you?" I snapped back at her and she rolled her eyes, snatching the phone away from me before I could grab it.
"And what about the letters? You heard them say they were going to write back and forth, how are we going to stop those?" I watched as she scrolled through the contacts on the phone and blocked the number.
"It's pretty simple, you throw away any letters that come in for him and I'll make sure none of his letters get sent out,"
"Do you really think that'll work though?"
"Isn't this what you wanted? It's a little late to go back on our plan now, don't you think?"
"Hey, I'm all in, it's you who needs to man up and follow through," I reached out and grabbed her arm, pushing her against the solid wood door and squeezing until she whimpered.
Pulling her close I whispered, "Don't ever disrespect me like that again. I'll make sure those damn letters never reach Sadie. Kent will never know,"